DURHAM have compensated for the absence of Twenty20 specialist David Warner by securing the release of Paul Collingwood for tonight’s match against Leicestershire at Riverside (6pm).

England’s captain for the World Twenty20 Championships, which start next week, will get in some valuable practice after being left on the bench during his stint with Delhi Daredevils at the Indian Premier League.

Collingwood is included in a 13-man man squad and as he is a useful bowler in this type of cricket he is likely to take the place of one of the seamers.

With England’s first match being against the Netherlands at Lord’s next Friday, Collingwood could also be available for Durham’s game at home to Nottinghamshire on Sunday.

The World T20 finishes on June 21, then Collingwood’s next England commitment is not until the first Ashes Test at Cardiff, starting on July 8, so it will be interesting to see whether he is made available for Durham’s second batch of four T20 games on June 23-28.

Once the Ashes series starts, followed by two T20 matches and seven one-day internationals culminating at Riverside on September 20, Durham will see nothing of Collingwood.

In the six seasons of Twenty20 cricket Leicestershire still have the best overall record, having won it in 2004 and 2006. But they were in decline as a championship force at the time and have struggled in all forms of the game in the last two years.

South African Hylton Ackerman is a very useful T20 player, as is Paul Nixon, the wicketkeeper and captain, while former Brandon professional Jim Allenby has an impressive record. He has yet to make runs against Durham, however.

In last season’s meeting at Riverside, Leicestershire were restricted to 119 for eight and Durham knocked off the runs for the loss of two wickets with 6.3 overs to spare.

They will be anxious to get back to that kind of form after the embarrassing 59- run home defeat by Derbyshire on Tuesday.

Tickets, costing £15 adults and £6 juniors, can be purchased by calling 0844 499 4466 or from the gate from 4pm. For those spectators unable to attend, Durham TV will feature highlights of all home Twenty20 matches on http://www.durhamccc.co.uk /durhamtv/highlights/ Durham (from): W R Smith (capt), D M Benkenstein, I D Blackwell, G R Breese, M E Claydon, K J Coetzer, P D Collingwood, M J Di Venuto, B W Harmison, S J Harmison, N Killeen, P Mustard, G Onions.